E-Business Management as Project Management

Introduction

IBM was the first to use the term “e-business” in 1997. E-Business, unlike e-commerce, is a specific term because it involves providing services to customers and collaborating with business partners. E-business project management is different from IT project management but it requires a good background in IT as well as a strong understanding of business processes. At present, the corporate world looks forward to utilizing the Internet and the possibilities associated with it for the purpose of E-Business.

Steps in E-Business Project Management

Defining the Scope of the Project – The Obvious Step

Before implementing an e-business project, there are several factors that need to be studied. This is done while defining the project scope. The project scope must be defined to include issues such as the information and processes that need to be transformed, the end users supported by the project, the relationship of the project-centric issues to the inherited known issues dominant in the information technology sector and e-commerce applications, the availability of financial resources, the time required for project completion and release, and the quantification of project success.

Establishing and Developing a Project Plan and Monitoring the Project

A project plan involves the detailing of the project scope. Proper planning must be done in order to check the feasibility of the project for its effective implementation. The major elements of the E-Business website and its action plan are drafted in this stage. Project planning involves the following steps in brief: selection of vendors; customization of E-Business software; management of time, cost, quality, and financial resources, risk management and the end-user training.

Once the project is implemented, it needs to be monitored because most of the projects fail to stick to the project plan because of issues such as unexpected technical requirements, changes in project requirements and user preferences, and variations in resource availability.

Project Review After Completion

This step is necessary in order to find out what went wrong in the project plan. Obviously, there will be several factors that cause the deviation of the E-Business project from its proposed plan, and they need to be studied for better project implementation.

For better understanding of these project algorithms in E-Business project management, one should consider taking E-Business certification courses. There are a number of such courses available locally or globally.

E-Business Project Management Certifications

There are several organizations that offer e-business certifications. The Institute of Certified E-commerce Consultants (CEC) offers Project Manager E-Business Certification (PME™). As a membership advantage, the Certified E-Business Consultant (CEC™), which is an e-business Credential that is specific to Project Managers and upper management, comes along with PME™. Also, the International Project Management Commission (IPMC) is a Global Graduate Board of Standards ™ that offers e-business certifications to Project Managers.

Conclusion

E-business projects tend to be more flexible and complex than conventionally engineered projects. If a company has to avail the benefits of e-business, proper project management is necessary. In addition to the end-user’s Internet knowledge, there are several factors such as the legal and privacy issues of e-business projects and the extremely high implementation costs which may prevent companies from joining the e-business bandwagon. In such a scenario, e-business project managers can assist the organizations in making e-business the top priority for their businesses.